This the second time that I have stayed here, and this will be the absolute last. The first time was in November of 2007, and I did not have a stellar experience then. My friend, lives local, advised me they had built a new section and it was modern and very, very nice. So I booked the room.
The reservation process-
On the website it shows beautiful hallways, a lovely exterior, and nicely appointed rooms. There are separate tabs for the hotel and the lodge, and you select the room, any discount and rate.
Upon confirmation with the auto-generated email, it appeared I was in a room at the hotel. The rate was $85 a night. I responded via email and asked that it be double checked because I had attempted to reserve a room for two nights at the Lodge. I was apprised that I had booked at the hotel, and the employee booked a room at the Lodge. I was advised this room would be $10 more per night. I agreed and I received confirmation. All was ducky... Or so I thought.
Check in-
After an exhausting drive after a meeting in Camp Hill, I arrived at the hotel at 5pm. I noticed a 'motel' section attached to the establishment, so the pictures were just of the newly added renovated portion. And the old section was looking pretty worn and scary. There appeared to be very few folks there, and a few Marcellus Shale/Gas Drilling people. I parked in a spot near the main entrance and started checking in the front desk.
Um... YEAH. When I was handed my room keys I was told I could park in front of my door... At that point I asked if I was in an outside exit room. The employee indicated that I was. I asked for an interior corridor room, and explained that 1)I had a recent and bad experience in a hotel of similar set up, and 2)being a woman traveling solo, I had asked for an interior, updated room. I got my cards, and a $5 per night increase. I am now up to $100 a night. Still not overly expensive. From what the young woman said, it was unclear if the room was a new one or not, but it still had more than one way to access it. I figured the hallway configuration lent itself to that. I COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG!
The facilities and the room-
Oh. Dear. God! The hallway smelled, and there were two hotel employees running around in white lab coats, and one had a drill in his hand each of the 4-5 times I saw them stalking around the hallways on two separate days. There was a communal microwave in the hallway near the vending machine. I keyed into my room, and was looking out a metal frame, one ply glass window of the parking lot, and next to it was... Yes... A door to the exterior. Crap! The room was most likely last redone in 1977. Small slate blue one inch ceramic tile as you enter the room and the bathroom was tiny and old, with no room on the old, chipped formica top. The floor was old, cracked and gouged tile. The room was freezing, and 72 was as high as the thermostat would go, and the room stayed cold. The beds had white linens, and a decent duvet, but the mattresses were old amd the best of the two still had you sleeping on a slope. No closet, just an alcove with 6 hangers. Cruddy chipped formica tops on desk and nightstand, and a dorm size refrigerator . A small table and chairs were near the door, but it was so cold that you would not sit there. Carpet was worn with many stains and bleach stains. The room stunk / was musty smelling, and joy of all joys ... Yet another flipping door! Yes, there was a connecting door. Argh.
Cleanliness was moderate, and the wifi only allows on device per room. Really? So if my phone is connected my laptop cannot? Wow.
Continental breakfast is meh. They make an effort, sort of. Kind of.
The walls are paper thin, so I could hear the loud jerks above me on Friday night, and the loud, rude women on my right on Saturday night. I could hear the microwave, and sadly, other room's ... Um ... Bathroom and mating proclivities.
Day 2 I was locked out, as happened my final day due to the room keys not keeping their programming, and the deadbolts on the door are true deadbolt style, they do not auto open from the inside.
Check out- nothing to report other than I was so happy to get the hell out of that miserable, miserable room.
Sadly, the friends I was visiting were very disappointed, and one experienced the room herself. She apologized for suggesting it, and stated she will not make that mistake again, as did another friend/community member.
Next time, and there will be plenty of next times, I will stay in Mansfield or in Williamsport at hotels I have stayed in previously. They are clean, modern, and focused on customer satisfaction and understand hospitality.
I cannot say the same for the Penn Wells Lodge. I so wanted to be able to like this hotel. For $217 for two nights, I had an experience that rates in my top ten most miserable. That is saying something. read more